Technical Field
The present invention relates to a radiographic imaging apparatus.
Background Art
For ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses, a diagnostic technique of cancer has been known in the art which involves imaging with a microbubble contrast agent and observing the resultant image. The use of a microbubble contrast agent enables, for example, visualizing new blood vessels. However, a problem with ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses is that when a bone is present, a deeper site cannot be imaged. Further, another problem is that it is impossible to examine the whole body by a single administration of a contrast agent since the operator applies a probe to individual target sites to perform an examination.
On the other hand, Patent Document 1 (JP 2006-517558A) describes generating an image in which a microbubble contrast agent is depicted at high contrast by the DEI method, one of phase contrast techniques.
When a microbubble contrast agent is used for imaging a living body by means of a radiographic imaging apparatus using a Talbot-Lau interferometer, the microbubble contrast agent is visualized in a small angle scattering image which illustrates scattering by a microstructure. However, the signal of microbubbles is very weak in a small angle scattering image. Further, a small angle scattering image includes the signals of living body tissues as well as the signal of a microbubble contrast agent, which overlap with each other. Therefore, it is difficult to make a diagnosis.